The Spectacle

I picked up the kids from daycare on Wednesday and had to run into the small grocery store in town and pick up a prescription. I decided also to pick up some chicken strips and popcorn chicken from the deli for supper, with summer being here finally I have been getting lazy on the cooking department. I haul both kids out of the car and into the store, Junior goes into a cart since he is still in the infant car seat and Katelynn has to walk along side me. We stop at the pharmacy counter and get my prescription (I had called it in earlier) and it was going smoothly until Katelynn sees the bowl of suckers on the counter. Katelynn had just received a sucker at daycare for having a great day and had already enjoyed the sucker on the way to the store. I told her she could take a sucker from the bowl, but she had to wait for another day to eat it, this was my first parental mistake. She held onto the sucker for awhile and then slowly started to unravel the bottom of it around the stick and I repeated to her that she could not have the sucker now and we continued at our walk to the other end of the store to the deli. As we were walking she continued to unravel the wrapper and then tell me that she had done it, I gave her another warning that I would take the sucker away if she took the wrapper off, here is the second parental mistake - too many warnings - I should have taken the sucker away and stuck it in my purse for later. As we are standing at the deli patiently waiting our turn I start chatting with another lady getting some food and Katelynn continues to unravel the wrapper and then tells me, another sterning warning goes out to her, I am going to take the sucker away if you unwrap it. We order our food and as they are wrapping our food up Katelynn unwraps the rest of the sucker and gives it a lick. I tell her again, put the wrapper back on that sucker and I am now taking it away. She gives it another lick (are you kidding me). My hand flies to her mouth, takes the sucker and the wrapper from her and stick it in my purse and explain to her why. Let the spectacle begin. She immediately is pissed and starts screaming, loud. We are now making our way to the checkouts and it's right after work so it's packed. Here I am pushing Junior in the cart and Katelynn is wailing at the top of her lungs behind me and I just pretty much ignored her. What I couldn't ignore was the 30 people at the checkouts including the checkers and baggers all turning to see what the commotion is all about and why this child is so damn loud. I check out my items and pay and get the hell out of there, how embarrassing. This was horrible, an almost four year old trailing behind me, I can almost hear the whispers of those people and there looks. Normally, I would have drug her butt outside and left, but I needed my prescription and we needed the milk and food. We get to the car and she has the guts to ask me if she can have the sucker now - WHAT!? Not a chance kid, we are going home.